Tag: garlic cloves

Well, easy, having tried this recipe, butternut squash is no longer an unknown! Everytime I saw this yellow funny shaped thing in the market, I wanted to buy, but had no idea how to cook except in a soup. Eureka! It is a recipe Ebru suggested but she says it is some well known chefs recipe, so as soon as I learn, I will let you know. (Now I can confirm that it is a recipe from Hugh Fearnley – Whittingstall )

Back again, with a classic summer recipe! I don`t know if it is cooked around other parts of the Mediterranean but I do know it is surely a dish you cook a lot whilst you are dealing with 40 degree Celsius heat in the Aegean. When it is hot, it is hard to eat heavy food – that’s why most Mediterranean countries have these lovely olive oil dishes.. So, what is our first lesson? We have to keep a nice bottle of olive oil in the kitchen:) ( I will tell you how to choose a good olive oil later)

Some info about fresh green beans: First of all, they have vitamins A, B, C, phosphate, potassium, iron and calcium. If you prepare green beans with olive oil you will get the most benefit of these.

Right, now how to choose the right green beans? In the supermarkets there is no choice, so go with the thin ones if you can find them, but If you have a farmers market, then you can ask for an easy to cook version.

If they are too hard, boil them for 10 – 15 mins before you start cooking.

What do I need to buy?

The ingredients are:

A pack of green beans (normally 300 gr or so)

1 onion

2 – 3 tomatoes (depending how tasty or how big they are)

3 – 4 cloves of garlic (depends if you like it)

1 tea spoon of salt

1 and a half tea spoons of sugar

5 – 6 spoons of olive oil

How do I cook it then?

1. Put the olive oil in the pan, (the hob should be high at this time) and add the finely chopped onions, play with them until they start turning yellowish.

2. Add your tomatoes with their juice, and let them relax. Then it is time to add the chopped garlic cloves.

3. Stir them altogether, then add the green beans, and stir them with other ingredients. Whilst doing this, boil some water and add it slowly to your pan. Keep in mind that the water should be slightly higher than the level of the green beans. Bring them to boil then lower the hob to medium.

4. Cook them for 15-20 mins (depending upon the hardness of the green beans) and check whether the green beans have softened.

If not, then add some water (but not too much, we don’t want it to taste too watery).

5. After they have cooked, put them on a plate or in a box and let them cool down in the fridge. The green beans are ready and you can eat them for the following three days unless you leave them outside..